Emotion and ignorance lead to judging mayhem

Emotion and ignorance lead to judging mayhem

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): Athletes are whingeing, coaches are moaning and
the judges are getting defensive. It must be a regional
gymnastics competition.

The problem is simple. The coaches have got high expectations
of their gymnasts and some judges are not on top of their
profession.

The result is controversy. Lots of it.

The technical delegate from the International Gymnastics
Federation (FIG), Adrian Stoica, told The Jakarta Post that
it was the coaches' and gymnasts' expectations to win medals that
had sparked such emotional reactions to some of the scores.

"The coaches have trained the gymnasts very hard to perform
certain skills, but they do not always perform well enough," he
said.

Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have all demanded
judges review decisions this week, either on the starting value
of a routine or the deductions from the value during the four
days of competition.

"According to FIG's rules, (reviews of gymnasts' performances)
are not allowed," he said, adding that the rule was adhered to
strictly in the world championships.

Stoica said that judges had to give reasons for their
decisions to satisfy the team managers and coaches, particularly
in "friendship-based" championships, such as the SEA Games.

Some gymnasts have had their final scores raised after the
judges spent hours rewatching their performances on video. Twin
champions in both team and individual events has almost become
the rule.

Stoica also said that judges needed better training to enable
them to make judgments according to the code of points.

"The judgment depends on the judges' experience and their
ability to recognize exactly what the gymnast has performed,"
Stoica, who has been a judge for about 21 years, said.

He said that the code of points had gone through many
revisions in last year.

Another FIG technical delegate, Ann Bigham, said that judges
often had difficulty understanding the code of points.

"It's very complex and difficult. If (the judges) do not
understand, it's very easy to make an error or to miss
something," said Bigham, who is a judge in the women's event.

In artistic events, six judges score on each panel during the
three competitions. Two judges, usually provided by FIG, set the
starting value or the maximum value possible for a routine, and
the other four submit deductions to this value.

In this year's SEA Games, the four judges are from Indonesia,
Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.

A judge from Indonesia, Hendi Suhendi defended his
colleagues.

"There are coaches who fail to recognize the mistakes or the
repetitions performed by their gymnasts," he said.

A women's event judge from Thailand, Jirapa Suwansa said that
a decision on who was the best was very difficult as many
gymnasts were of similar ability.

Philippine judge Robert Tejada said that judgments were always
very subjective as all judges had their own tastes and views.

"I committed mistakes in the first competition. I set too low
starting values for a Thai gymnast. I missed one element, so
eventually I had to raise the starting value," he said.